Device for catching mail-bags



(No Model.)

B; M. VAN HOESEN. DEVICE FOR UATGHING MAIL BAGS.

No. 446,550. Patented. Feb. 17, 1891.

linrrnn mares Parent @rrrnnt EUGENE M. VAN IIOESEN, OF PREBLE, NE YORK.

DEVICE FOR CATCHING MAIL-BAGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters ?atent 1.\To.46,550, dated February 1'7, 1891.

Application filed October 27,1890. Serial No. 369,457x (N0 modeh) To all whom it may concern.-

- Be it known that I, EUGENE M. VAN IIOESEN, of Preble,in the county of Cortland, in the State of New York,have invented new and useful Improvements in Devices for Catching )IaiLBags, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to devices used for catching mail-bags from moving trains.

My object is to improve the construction by adapting it to hold the bag with a springgrip and to provide it with means by which it can be set open and automatically tripped by the bag and the spring released, so as to exert its full force in gripping the bag and holding it.

My invention consists in the several novel features of construction and operation hereinafter described, and which are specifically set forth in the claim hereto annexed. It is constructed as follows, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan View of the catcher opened. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same arm 5 has one end secured to the cross-bar in such position that the cam will engage with it when operated and will throw the free end outward, creating a Vshaped jaw.

To hold this arm open or so extended, I use a hinged brace (i, hinged to the cross-bar and to the arm and hinged centrally, so that it will fold up when anything strikes it with sufficient force to separate the shoulders upon the inner ends of the brace-sections adjacent to this hinge, and then the spring tension of the arm will fold up these sections and the spring-arn1 will assume its normal position alongside ot' the cross-bar. Of course after being set open the cam is thrown back out of the way. Thus when the catcher is open and is swung out horizontally by the handle 7 and the bag B enters the jaw and strikes the brace the spring-arm will at once close in and grip the bag bet-ween itself and the cross-bar and securely hold it against dislodgment, even if it is not tied in the center, as is now the custom. To make it fold up closer the brace may be made narrower than the slot in the crossbar, and then it will fold back into the slot and the spring-arm can come up close to the crossbar, as shown. The brace can be omitted if the operator desires to hold the arm open by' hand.

hat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination, with the cross-bar and the 

